The _quattro-cento_ glass of Venice,[144] for the most part decorated
with enamel and gilding, may be conveniently arranged in accordance
with the nature of the enamels that cover it.
I will take first a class in which the enamel plays but a subordinate
part. The clear white glass, somewhat thick and heavy compared with
later examples, is often ornamented with _appliqué_ bosses of coloured
glass; such glass is sparingly decorated with opaque enamels, and this
decoration takes the form of little beads or studs, at times combined
with an imbricated pattern in gold. We sometimes meet with large bowls
on low feet (a form of _drageoir_ or sweetmeat dish) which are so
decorated. There is, however, no finer example of this style of
ornament than the standing beaker with cover in the British Museum
(Slade, 362). The general outline and the obliquely curved gadroons of
this magnificent cup were no doubt suggested by some piece of late
Gothic silver-plate. On the flat-headed knob that surmounts the cover
are the half obliterated remains of a coat of arms, but otherwise the
enamelling is confined to some sparely applied studding and filleting.
There is a covered goblet of the same class in the Waddesdon collection
remarkable for an inscription in some South-Slavonic dialect, scratched
with a diamond on the foot. The blue and purple bosses round the body
of these beakers partake somewhat of the nature of prunts.
Another class of fifteenth-century enamelled glass calls to mind in the
manner of its decoration the contemporary enamelled copper ware of
Venice (_émaux peints_). Indeed, in some examples where the enamel is
spread over the whole field and subsequently decorated with other
colours, there is little to indicate that such a vessel has a basis of
glass rather than of metal. This is the case with the beautiful goblet
covered with pale turquoise blue enamel in the Waddesdon Room in the
British Museum. The decoration is given by an elaborate imbrication of
white, red, and gold; the well-drawn male and female figures, in
lozenge-shaped medallions, closely resemble certain woodcuts in
Venetian books of the fifteenth century. If, as is probable, this cup
is not much later in date than the year 1450, we have in it one of the
earliest examples in glass of the complete goblet or wine-glass form,
with bowl, stem, and foot.[145] The outline of the bowl should be
noticed: the double curve, _tending somewhat inwards_ at the top, is
characteristic of these _quattro-cento_ glasses; here again the form is
doubtless derived from silver-plate.
These opaque solid enamels are, however, more frequently applied here
and there upon a basis of transparent coloured glass. For the ground a
deep cobalt blue was most in favour, but a rich leafy green and other
colours also occur at times. The opaque enamels are laid on thickly in
masses; upon these again details are painted by further touches of
colour.
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